"Spiritual Journey": Learn to subtract from life

Author: Guo Shijie

The movie "Soul", translated from the mainland as "Psychic Journey", is directed by "Monster Company" director Pete Doggett, telling the protagonist Joey Gonath's death due to an accident that accidentally fell into a well, and a series of stories that happened after "born" and a precocious soul "Twenty-two".

The whole story follows the idea of "things aren't what they used to be," meaning "things don't always go the way they used to be." Despite being an unsatisfactory bowl of heart-warming chicken soup, Pixar still exudes a fresh breath, not too viscous, and does not deliberately fill it. Most of the commercial film scripts on the market seem to be injecting special effects into the story, resulting in the plot always falling into the cliché: "The two protagonists go from not understanding each other to supporting each other, to intensifying the contradictions, and finally getting back together." At the end of the bad story, the hero returns to his hometown, the wild horse is domesticated into a treasure colt, and we all have a bright future. But Pixar's twenty-third film, in the selection, perfectly achieves the balance of technical special effects and storyline.

Joey is a substitute middle school music teacher who spends his days teaching a group of children with very low interest in music and extremely poor performance to destroy the instrument, but still dreams of becoming a pure jazz pianist one day. By chance, a former student contacted him to fill a gap of pianists in a well-known jazz band, and won the band's recognition in one fell swoop. At the same time, however, the stable days that Joey's mother had been looking forward to had also announced its arrival earlier in the day— the principal of the middle school where Joey taught issued him an invitation to "compile", five insurances and one gold, and the rest of his life was stable.

At the beginning of the story, Pete Doggett throws a realistic dilemma to the audience - should he go to the market of "art" to bask in the sun and wind, or spend the rest of his life in the "system"? Audiences who withdraw from the tedious daily trivial work to watch the film are once again drawn into the torture of reality. "Things don't always go as usual", this fairy tale cloaked in animated film is not as full of fantasy as "fairy tales", but makes the audience fall into thinking about reality.

Interestingly, within the director's bizarre worldview, religion and science coexist: God becomes a collection of "quantums", hell is a mosquito lamp that straddles the universe, ghosts after death line up on conveyor belts waiting to be annihilated; quantum angels oversee the "Academy of Life" where "personalities" are made for the unborn "souls". Unborn souls line up to be branded with "character", and once they are ignited with a "spark", they can jump to earth to find their mother.

At this point, "Soul" asks the audience a second question – has our "mission" been arranged before we are born? Is the "spark" of the "pastry" ignited, can only be a pastry chef? Is the "spark" of "cement" ignited, can only be a mason?

About this confusion, in the process of advancing the main story, interspersed with a turning point.

One of the barbershops Joey used to go to was a clerk who had been doing a different profession than his own "spark" all his life. Joey asked with a shocked face: "Your 'spark' is a 'veterinarian', how can you wash and cut blows in a barbershop?" The little brother piled up his face full of flesh, patted the chair under his hand to cut his hair, smiled with great satisfaction, and said, "Even if I don't work as a veterinarian, so what?" I enjoy chatting with customers and I love the stories told on this chair. ”

In fact, here, the film implicitly puts forward a terrible assumption - fatalism, that is, no matter how you live and experience after birth, your fate has long been predestined and unchangeable. At the same time, the experience of the barber negates such an inference, "spark" metaphorical fate, but can jump out and become the person you want to be. Born to be human, we expect to take risks, but we expect different things. We believe that people should experience a completely different life, get rid of the shackles, and get great freedom and freedom.

At the end of the story, Joey Gona successfully persuaded his mother, and with the attention and blessing of his family, completed a successful jazz performance with the orchestra, which attracted the praise of the audience.

Joey Gouna, who should have been ecstatic, asked after the spotlight had cleared, "And then?" ”

"Then come back tomorrow," the band's lead singer spat out the cigarette in his mouth, looking as usual.

"But it's not what I thought!"

The band's lead singer was silent for a moment and said, "Once upon a time there was a fish that dreamed of going to the sea to swim. But the fish next to it told it that this was the sea. ”

So, what kind of life are we looking forward to? When you suddenly realize that the dream you have been looking forward to for a lifetime is not as good as you imagined, how do you treat yourself?

The Quantum Angel said, "You 'teachers' always think that 'sparks' are 'dreams,' but they never are. "'Journey of the Mind' uses fairy tale-like twists and turns, witty dialogues between characters to convey adults' thinking about life - to live is to live. At the end of the story, all the questions have been answered - move with your heart and enjoy life.

Dreams are meant to be, and that's not all. It is important to discover what we love and work for all our lives, but on the road of chasing, don't forget to stop occasionally and feel the wind blowing through the leaves. Learn to subtract from life, hoping that you and I both have the opportunity to perceive the reality of life and have the courage to accept an impermanent life. (Guo Shijie)

Source: Guangming Network - Literary And Art Review Channel